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But my Arabic is pretty good. It's good enough to have conversations with people, to understand what they say, to understand what they're feeling.

I feel a great kinship with my origins, even though I only learned a few words of Arabic.

I do not use the language of my people. I can take liberties with certain themes which the Arabic language would not allow me to take.

I don't know Arabic. I can't speak or write it.

In school in Lebanon, we were not allowed to speak Arabic during breaks - it had to be French or English.

Being published in Arabic is a strong and consistent wish I have. I live in the Middle East and want to be in some sort of an unpragmatic dialogue with my neighbors.

Before I got into politics, I wanted to be a missionary to people in the Middle East. I thought it would be better to speak with them in their own language.

I grew up speaking both languages, and for me that's really important.

Whenever I come across an Arabic word mired in English text, I am momentarily shocked out of the narrative.

There is no other language as similar to Hebrew like Arabic.